German for beginners in 7 lessons

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Olena Shypilova

English edition by Yuriy Bereza

German

for beginners

in 7 lessons

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German for beginners in 7 Lessons

Thank you for choosing and joining our on-line German course.

The course consists of 7 lessons. Due to these 7 lessons you will understand that German can be

a very simple language to learn if the study is organized the right way. You haven’t to invest years into

studying German in language courses or at universities. You can do it here – quickly and efficiently. You should know that the efficiency of any study depends generally on the teacher skills to 80% and on the willingness of the student only to 20%. Our site is dedicated to introduction of teaching methodology we have developed. You wouldn’t believe it’s possible to learn any language in such a short period of time? Try out and get surprised!

The course is composed to explain 70% of German grammar, using words, phrases and idioms you will need for your everyday’s communication.

One condition: to avoid the failure that your study becomes one another light-minded attempt to

learn something new, you should use both audio-lessons and your workbook as well as do all exercises given after each lesson. Taking a new lesson, you should download the audio-lesson first and only afterwards you can start learning with your workbook. Otherwise, you risk learning pronunciation of sounds, words and phrases incorrectly, and thus, you won’t be able to speak and to be understood by your communication partner. In audio-lessons some aspects are considered which might not be considered in the text-version of the course. One lesson will take you about 30 minutes of your time. The total course duration amounts to 3.5 hours.

We guarantee you that after this course you will have the most important knowledge of German enough for basic communication. You’ll be able to chat with your German friends in Skype, read German books (certainly, consulting a dictionary), understand YouTube-clips in German and use German web-sites. Furthermore, you’ll be one who knows a foreign language more.

If you are not ready to spend 3.5 hours or 3 weeks of your life for this course, don’t ever intend to start it!

Olena Shypilova and eustudy.ru team

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Lesson 1. Pronounces and verbs. Numerals.

Before you start, download audio lesson with extended explanation:

http://german.eustudy.ru/en/audiofiles/eng_germ/Unterricht1_voll.mp3

After this lesson you’ll be able:

1. to tell what is your name, what you do (study, work or are retired), where you

live, how old you are;

2. to use the most common phrases the Germans use everyday.

There are following pronouns in German:

Pronouns

ich I

du you (to your friend, relative or fellow)

er

sie

es

he

she

It

wir we

ihr you (to your friends, relatives or fellows,

e.g. Hey, you two!)

Sie

sie

you (to your boss(es), unacquainted or

much elder person(s); polite speech);

they

“Iron” rule of German: All German verbs always consist of stem plus ending -en or just -n:

wohnen (to live, esp. to have a residence somewhere)

denken (to think)

heißen (to have name, to be named, to be called)

lernen (to learn)

studieren (to study)

verdienen (to earn, to deserve)

arbeiten (to work)

kommen (to come)

sprechen (to speak)

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lives», and not just: «he live», you should take away the -en-ending and add the correct

ending to the stem, depending on the pronoun you want to combine the verb with:

Ich wohn+e – I live

Du wohn+st – You live (ONE person: friend, relative or fellow)

Er, sie, es wohn+t – He, she, it lives

Wir wohn+en – We live

Ihr wohn+t – You live (MULTIPLE persons: friends, relatives or fellows)

Sie, sie wohn+en – You live (polite speech to ONE/MULTIPLE person(s): boss(es),

unacquainted or much elder person(s)), they live

Wohnen

Ich wohn+e

Du wohn+st

Er, sie, es wohn+t

Wir wohn+en

Ihr wohn+t

Sie, sie wohn+en

Let’s consider the often used verb «to think» – denken:

Ich denk+e – I think

Du denk+st – You think

Er, sie, es denk+t – He, she, it thinks

Wir denk+en – We think

Ihr denk+t – You think

Sie, sie denk+en – You, they think

Verb heißen – to have name, to be named, to be called (the letter ß is read like

«s»). Without this verb you’ll be able neither to introduce yourself nor to ask somebody

about his name or the name of any object or action (How is it called if I make signs with a

pen in my notebook? It’s called «to write». – Wie heißt es, wenn ich in meinem Helf

Zeichen mit einem Kugelschreiber mache? Das (Es) heißt «schreiben».) So, as you see,

it’s a rather important verb.

This verb is conjugated NOT according to the general rule, but for now, it would be

enough if you just keep in your mind its conjugation.

Ich heiße – My name is

Du heißt – Your name is

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Ihr heißt – Your names are

Sie,sie heißen – Your name(s) is (are), their names are

“Iron” rule of German: VERB is always on the second place in the sentence!

Exercise 1

1. Ich heiß

Peter. (heißen – to have name, to be named, to be called)

2. Ich lern

Deutsch. (lernen – to learn)

3. Ich wohn

in Moskau. (wohnen – to live; in Moskau – in Moscow)

4. Ich studier

nicht. (studieren – to study, nicht – not)

5. Ich verdien

gut. (verdienen – to earn, gut – good, well)

6. Aber ich arbeit

viel. (aber – but; arbeiten – to work; viel – a lot, much)

7. Mein Freund komm

aus Deutschland. (mein Freund – my friend; kommen –

to come; aus Deutschland – from Germany)

8. Er heiß

Richard.

9. Er arbeit

hier auch. (auch – also, too)

10. Er wohn

in Moskau.

Check up!

→

http://german.eustudy.ru/en/Unterricht1Aufgabe1_antwort.php

Exercise 2

1. Ihr lern

Deutsch.

2. Wir studier

viel.

3. Du wohn

in Moskau.

4. Ihr studier

zusammen. (zusammen – together)

5. Sie (she) lern

hier.

6. Er arbeit

dort. (dort – there)

7. Die Gruppe arbeit

zusammen. (die Gruppe – the group)

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“Iron” rule of German: all nouns start with capital-letters.

Now, let’s try to tell about your age. We’ll focus upon the most used numerals.

From 0 to 9

From 10 to 19

From 20 to 29

Decades

0 – null

1 – eins

2 – zwei

3 – drei

4 – vier

5 – fünf

6 – sechs

7 – sieben

8 – acht

9 – neun

10 – zehn

11 – elf

12 – zwölf

13 – dreizehn (3,10)

14 – vierzehn (4,10)

15 – fünfzehn (5,10)

16 – sechzehn

17 – siebzehn

18 – achtzehn

19 – neunzehn

20 – zwanzig

21 – einundzwanzig (1 and 20)

22 – zweiundzwanzig (2 and 20)

23 – dreiundzwanzig (3 and 20)

24 – vierundzwanzig

25 – fünfundzwanzig

26 – sechsundzwanzig

27 – siebenundzwanzig

28 – achtundzwanzig

29 – neunundzwanzig

10 – zehn

20 – zwanzig

30 – dreißig

40 – vierzig

50 – fünfzig

60 – sechzig

70 – siebzig

80 – achtzig

90 – neunzig

100 – hundert

Now, we’ll combine numerals with the very important German verb sein – «to be».

This verb is conjugated in spite of the general declination rule (as the English verb

“to be” is), so you just have to keep it in mind:

sein

Ich bin

Du bist

Er, sie, es ist

Wir sind

Ihr seid

Sie, sie sind

Using the verb sein, you can tell about your age:

Ich bin sechsundzwanzig (26) Jahre alt – I am twenty six years old.

Er ist vierzig (40) Jahre alt. – He is forty years old.

Du bist zwanzig (20) Jahre alt. – You are twenty years old.

Exercise 3. Verb sein (to be).

1. Ich

Student. (student)

2. Ich

faul. (lazy)

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5. Der Text

schwer. (der Text – text, schwer – difficult)

6. Der Platz hier

frei. (der Platz – place; hier – here; frei – free)

7. Wir

aus Moskau. (aus Moskau – from Moscow)

8. Das

ein Zimmer. (das Zimmer – room)

9. Das

die Leute. (die Leute – people)

10. Mein Name

Alexander. (mein Name – my name)

11. Du

mein Freund. (mein Freund – my friend)

12. Du

toll. (toll – great)

13. Ich

der Rentner. (der Rentner – pensioner)